Woo Hoo

I am super pumped about this post, it is the highlight so far. So here we have my little etsy shop, Bugandpop. I would love to know what you think if you go over and have a look and remember if you live in Melbourne, I can do a Bug and Pop party for you and your friends and you can choose one free item and receive 10% off the rest of your purchases. It can be anywhere, a playgroup meeting, home, where ever and then everyone can mix and match fabrics and styles, the beauty of hand-made and custom-made and I am definately not a pressure seller.

If that wasn't exciting enough, our hostess with the mostest Handamaiden, has asked me to pick this weeks This is... So to go with my dream of getting Bugandpop up and running I want to know This is What I want to be when I grow up. It can be what you would do if you had no commitments, maybe you are already doing your dream job or it could be what you wanted to be when you were 5. I can't wait to read what everyone comes up with because you know we never too grown up to dream.

And sometimes you Pick a Good One ...

My hubby is a lovely man, does he rate high in the romance, thoughfullness stakes, not so much. (Thankfully his usefulleness on the internet only extends as far as banking and All Blacks.com so he can't be offended) Then today like a gem he surprises me with this gorgeous Miss Mason necklace in the shape of a measuring tape heart to say how proud he was of my sewing efforts which he got from the fabulous Mikes. The ring is our engagement/wedding ring with a gorgeous black pearl, which he also picked out on his own, my other FAVOURITE piece of jewelery.

Hooray for Hubby!!

Hooray for Mikes!!

Hooray for Miss Mason!!

He does have great taste, even if he did choose me?!

This is ... What I do with a Spare 10 Minutes

This is a 2 for 1 post today, so you get twice the bang for your buck, not that I charge for the privilege of my company but you know what I mean.

I struggled with this week's this is from the lovely Hoppo Bumpo. I don't normally ever have a spare 10 minutes, there is always something to be done, cleaned or attended to. My general week consists of 45-50 hours of work, which I do from home so still trying to interact with the bubbas, then I sew 35 plus hours a week trying to get BugandPop up and running (this though is all out of love of doing it) then week-ends my hubby works and I spend my beloved quality time with the kids and in between is the blogging, Caleb's appointments, cleaning and other house duties, though thankfully hubby is a chef and looks after the cooking side of things. I don't mean it as a look at what I can do, it is more that I feel guilty if I don't fill-in every minute with as much as I can, most of it I love doing . It has been a bit of an eye opener actually that I need to reel myself in a bit and give myself a break every now and the so thanks Liesel. So as my new Cindy I would spend it reading a special story with Caleb while he twirls my hair, build blocks with Poppy, have an All Black conversation about their brilliant win with my rugby mad Hubby and have a lovely Hot chochie at the park, with my sketchbook and draw some more design ideas that I had floating in my head and not have to share my marshmallows (or does that go with out saying).

Due to my computer difficulties last week I missed Miss CurlyPop's great your favourite band theme. i was trying to decide whether to go with my somewhat cooler current self and say Ben Harper or Jack Johnson, but I was inspired by Katie to share my first true band crush - New Kids on the Block (to all the youngsters out there, I wish I could share a film clip or picture but I am still trying to figure out how to do that). My beloved mother even drove my out to the airport twice so that I could see them come and go, not that they even acknowledged that I was there but Joey McIntyre was only a bus window away from my future husband and that was exciting enough. Oh the memories...

Thanks to Handmadien for being our gracious host while more players are over at Three Buttons.

To complete the 2 for 1 them here is a reversible dress that I finished. I really love this fabric and I think it is great as a top or dress. Please forgive the rambling post.

Oh Sweet Sleep Where are you

I feel like I am madly trying to get 100 things done at once at the moment, all of which I am enjoying but you know. I have decided that this Tuesday is the day for my Etsy shop so I have to take all the photos and write blurby bits too. I so wish these days that I had a Nana or a sister (I don't have one, but always wanted one) close by to take the kids for the week-end so I could get some stuff done. I find though if you don't give a deadline all of a sudden 3 years have past and your still procrastinating, so jumping in it is.

I finally got the "evil dress" done. It came up so cute with the matching binding. I also got done a lovely twirling skirt with apples and super sweet Japanese linen animal front panel. I have also done 2 more pairs of custom pants but forgot to photograph them so I am hoping to follow that up this week.

Is a rose by any other name?

What is in a name? I have been thinking since I read yet another great post by Handmaiden about branding your product - That everything you do should all be in line with who you want to be. It is a really great read. It made me think how often in life we label, people, situations, etc. I said to Caleb when he didn't want to say hello to someone, "Are you feeling shy?". Now he says all the time, "I am shy, I can't do it". Labelling with Asperger's autism is a really powerful thing, but I think it applies to everyone, one way or another. By the same token, he says to me when we are playing "Goog Job Mummy, Thank you." and I put my hair up with a "You look beautiful" reply. This meant that these positive ones were also leaving a mark on his slate. Now on I am aiming to choose my words carefully to make sure my labels are the ones I want people to hear.